


Second Chances

by Kyveli



Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-17
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:06:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23188960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kyveli/pseuds/Kyveli
Summary: He was once the Emperor's hand, the ruthless enforcer of his will,  the scourge of the Jedi, the baine of the rebels, the most feared dark warrior in the galaxy. And he reveled in bringing death to those who opposed him. His crimes were terrible, he believed that he was beyond redemption. Until his son saved him. He was ready to spend his existence as a Force ghost. But a certain doctor had other plans for him... or perhaps, them?
Relationships: Chelli Lona Aphra/Darth Vader
Comments: 9
Kudos: 27





	1. Where am I?

**Author's Note:**

> This story came to me as I watched the Star Wars comics on Youtube. I love Vader and Dr. Aphra and I feel that there is chemistry between them, So I decided to give Darth Vader the ending he deserved and ship those two together. This is my first Star Wars fanfic, and I'm not that familiar with the Star Wars universe technology, droids, ships, planets...etc..., so please bare with me.

His eyes snapped open and he gasped. A rush of fresh air filled his lungs and he greedily sucks it in with ease. 

‘Impossible, I haven’t been able to breathe without feeling as if my lungs were on fire in years’. He felt like he was floating, he couldn’t tell in what; his eyesight was still very blurry, but it was becoming more focused as time passed. He soon realized that he was floating into what felt like a bacta tank and his mouth was attached to a breathing apparatus.

‘What am I doing here? I’m supposed to be dead. I died; I remember that clearly. I died in my son’s arms and then Obi-wan came to me as I was floating to the other side. He taught me how to become a Force ghost, though I did not deserve to become one with the Force. I stood next to my former Master and Yoda as we all watched with pride as Luke and Leia joined the celebration that ensued on Endor upon the destruction of the second Death Star.

And moments later, I wake up in a lab. How is this possible, didn’t Luke burn my remains? Yoda said that he watched him building a funeral pyre and giving me a proper farewell.’

As his senses were finally completely restored, he felt something that he hadn’t felt in years. His fingers and toes. Not the cybernetic implants that caused him tremendous pain over the years, a grim price for the superhuman strength they provided him with, but a pleasant tingling sensation. He turned his head to the left, he was greeted with the most unexpected sight, a fully restored arm. He turned to the right, the same pleasant sight. He looked down and smiled in delight; he had legs again.

‘My body has been restored! How? Why? Who would do that for me? My children perhaps? Impossible, they lack the resources. The Empire? I seriously doubt that. The remaining officers would be overjoyed by my demise. The Emperor himself? Ha! Absolutely not, he was in search of another apprentice since day one; one who was not a threat to his power. The Sith? No, it is not the way of the Dark side to give second chances to failed Sith Lords, especially those who turned their backs to it and returned to the Light.

Besides, I discovered that the Sith of Old would have rejected me on sight because I was tainted by the Light since I used to be a Jedi. Sidious was the only Sith who took a Jedi as his apprentice. Not just once, but twice. Count Dooku and I. Well, I’m at a loss. For the life of me, I cannot think of a single person in the Universe who would want me alive and intact.’, just then a mechanical voice filled the air:

**“LIFE FORCE TRANSFER COMPLETE. SENSES FULLY OPERATIONAL. INITIATING TANK PURGE.”**

‘Wait, what?’, his eyes went wide as the bottom of the tube vanished, and he slipped out of the tank along with the gallons of fluid that were keeping him afloat. He crushed on the tiled floor of the lab. It took him several tries to stand up, his unused limbs failed to obey him at first, and to top it all, he kept slipping on the wet floor. Finally, he was able to stand up and take baby steps forward. The disembodied mechanical voice spoke again:

“ **LORD VADER, WELCOME TO THE DANTOINE CLONING FACILITY. YOU WILL FIND CLOTHING IN THE CLOSET ON YOUR LEFT AND A YT-1300 LIGHT CORELLIAN FREIGHTER WILL TAKE YOU WHEREVER YOU NEED TO GO. A MESSAGE FROM YOUR BENEFACTOR IS EXPECTING YOU AS SOON AS YOU ACTIVATE THE ENGINES. HAVE A NICE DAY.”**

The door leading outside opened. Not wanting to allow curious prying eyes to gaze upon his naked glory, Anakin Skywalker hurried to the closet and opened it. There, he discovered not only a full set of Jedi clothing of his favorite darker variety but also a Lightsaber. As soon as he put his new clothes on, he ignited the Lightsaber. It was green, but he could not identify who it belonged to initially.

‘Probably to one of the Jedi who lived here millennia ago. After all, these are the ancient Jedi temple ruins I explored years ago. Well, whoever it belonged to, I thank them and promise to use it only for good this time.’, he clasped his new Lightsaber on his belt and looked at the full-length mirror on the inner side of the closet door.

He was astonished, he looked exactly how he looked before Mustafar. Before his arrogance and rage sentenced him to a half-life. A life full of pain, anguish, hatred, and atrocities. He was a hubris against life, a walking, talking, abomination, who only left death and destruction in his wake.

‘Not anymore, I will make things right’, he vowed and exited the facility. True to the computer’s words, the Corellian freighter was waiting for him right outside the ruins. It was a much smaller but less battered version of the Millennium Falcon. He waved his wrist on the sensor and his wrist band biped. A ramp came down, and Anakin entered his new ship. He climbed up to the bridge and sat on the captain’s chair.

As soon as he ignited the engines, a mechanical whistle informed him that he had a message waiting for him. He almost slipped out of his chair as soon as he saw the person responsible for his resurrection. There, in all her mischievous, cheeky glory sat Dr. Chelly Lona Aphra, the bane of his existence, the thorn on his side...

_the smile on his scarred face behind his austere mask whenever he saw or thought about her..._

Krif, even after he threw her out of that airlock, he regretted doing that and mourned her loss, and that on its own was extraordinarily unusual for him because he had killed thousands of people for much lesser transgressions than the betrayal he suffered at her hands.

He felt such joy, a very unbecoming emotion for a Sith Lord of his caliber when he discovered that she survived the freezing vacuum of space! How did she do that? He never got to ask her. She was supposed to be dead, but there she was on every Imperial channel, being her usual cheeky self. 

Despite ordering her death that day, he was certain that she will cheat it once again and make a fool out of him. Normally, such a thing would infuriate him, however, he didn’t mind it as much as he should when it came from her. It thrilled him. He was even more thrilled when he hunted her down those ruins, knowing full well that he would catch her, but won’t kill her.

He was planning on taking her back to the Executor and keeping her with him at all times. As what, he wasn’t certain, but keep her he would. Little did he know that it would be him who would end up falling into a trap and she would walk away again, completely unscathed. Oh, he did howl in frustration that day but grinned like a goofy schoolboy that evening aboard his ship when he recalled what she said to him as she walked away.

_“You’re the best thing that ever happened to me!”_

As much as it had pained him to admit it to himself that night, she was the best thing that ever happened to him in the past twenty or so years. That, and discovering that he had a son. And later, a daughter. Yes, Chelly Lona Aphra had been a thorn on his side and a pain in his arse, but he wouldn’t have it any other way. She brought thrills, joy, and comfort in his life. She made him smile and even laugh when he was alone in his chambers remembering her antics. However, for the life of him, he couldn’t understand why she would go into such lengths to resurrect him, as far as she was concerned, he wanted her dead.

“I suppose I’m about to find out”, he smiled as he studied her beautiful face, so much like Padme’s, with the almond-shaped brown eyes, creamy white skin, and full red lips, lips that would give him a lopsided mischievous smile and go into details about her previous escapades, whether he wanted to hear about them or not. Despite protesting, he enjoyed her incessant chattering, because it brought peace to his blackened soul, his pain would disappear when she talked nonstop. Krif, he was even able to sleep for hours on end at the copilot’s seat as they traveled to their next adventure.

Her cheek, her sass, her outright defiance, and insubordination, was tolerated by him because of what she was to him. His balm, his comfort, the only person that made him feel like a human and not an evil mechanical hybrid abomination. Aphra’s hologram smiled at him.

“Hello, Boss! You're probably wondering why the krif would I resurrect you after you tried to snuff me out so many times. You must think that I am demented. That I have a death wish or something. Perhaps you’re right, there’s a distinct possibility that I am insane and have a death wish.

However, what I also have is a dept. I owe you, Boss. I owe you an explanation for my betrayal and I owe you extreme gratitude for the thrills I experienced at your service. My betrayal was unintentional, for the first time in my life I was caught off guard and self-preservation kicked in. We were discovered and only by ratting you out would I have been able to save my own skin. I knew you would be fine; you are Darth Kriffing Vader for krif’s sake, you would have survived the Emperor’s wrath. I thought that I would be able to talk myself out of it as well. That you would somehow forgive me. But I was wrong as well as deluded. I did pay for that.

Anyhow, as I told you the first day I met you, you’re what I’ve been looking for all my life. I was your biggest fangirl, growing up, and when you came searching for me and my skills, it was a dream come true for me. I enjoyed every single moment I spent with you and I wouldn’t change a thing. Except for the betrayal part, I would totally change that.

You were the best thing that ever happened to me, so when I stumbled across that cloning facility and managed to decipher the ancient script that provided detailed instructions on how to transfer someone’s essence to a clone upon death, I jumped at the opportunity.

You have bled way too many times in my ship’s medical bay, so collecting your genetic material was not that hard. I always have trouble taking out the trash, so I never disposed of the bloodied needle and the gauzes, after I stitched you up. Apparently, that was all that computer needed to collect enough genetic material to clone you. It promised to grow your body till it your mid to late twenties, weren't you between the ages of twenty-five to thirty when you had that horrible accident that turned your life into a living hell?

The computer told me that the Force will transfer your essence to the new body, and you will be able to live a long and healthy life, so long as you stir away from the Dark Side. If you use it, you will rot away just like the Emperor. So, as long as you live by the Jedi code, you will be fine. I know you can do it; I got faith in you. There's still good in you, Anakin Skywalker, I can feel it.

You are free now, the ship is yours, I won it off a smuggler fair and square and transferred the deeds to you along with a fair amount of credits. There are plenty of clothes in your cabin, both Jedi and non-Jedi and enough food and drinking supplies to last you a year. You can go wherever you want, and be whatever you want, the choice is yours.

Or you can come and find me on Tatooine, your home planet, I got business there that will probably take a kriffing long time to complete. As I said, the choice is yours. I’ll be waiting, Boss. Hopping that we meet again a least once more before we part ways. Till we meet again, then.”, and the transmission was ended with her blowing him a kiss and winking as her trademark lopsided grin graced her beautiful features. 

‘Well, Tatooine it is then.”, Anakin grinned and set the coordinates. ‘I really wished you had picked a different planet, Doctor, I hate sand’, he sighed. 


	2. Tatooine

Mos Eisley, Tatooine.

Dr. Chelli Lona Aphra was very happy. She looted the late Jabba the Hut’s palace and sold everything to the highest bidder. She felt incredibly lucky that she left his palace a day before the Hutt met his ultimate demise at “THE KID’S” and Co hands. She couldn’t help but see Luke Skywalker as “THE KID”, ever since she discovered that he was Darth Vader’s son and his friends as “Co”, aka company, since they always accompanied him wherever havoc was unleashed. She didn’t know the details of Jabba’s death, but she heard that almost all his goons died with him and ended up in the Sarlacc’s pit along with Boba Fett.

Jabba was ecstatic with the Imperial interrogation droid she procured for him and rewarded her very generously. Aphra’s luck continued at the Mos Espa’s cantina when she won a Corellian freighter at a Sabbacc game. She decided to become generous for a change and returned to Dantoine. It had been two and a half years since she discovered the cloning facility and decided to clone Vader after she deciphered the ancient texts and reactivated the computer. She planned to leave Vader stranded there alone and naked after his resurrection to fend for himself and find his own way off the planet wondering who the krif resurrected him, as a prank. But after the events aboard the Executor where they fucked like bunnies and she saw a completely different side of him, and after all Ashoka told her about him, she changed her mind. Anakin Skywalker deserved better than that. So, she opened an account in his name and credited it with half of her earnings from Jabba’s reward. She also bought him food and clothes and left him a message on the freighter which she also transferred ownership to him. If all that didn’t bring her back into his good graces, she didn’t know what would.

She was about to go to Vader's new ship and record her message when a news flash from the Holonet caught her attention. “Luke Skywalker and his band of Rebel terrorists wreaked havoc in Jabba the Hutt’s domain and murdered him and his entire court and army.”

‘That means that there are loads of goodies for me to loot’, Aphra grinned and hurried to the freighter. She informed Vader at the end of the message that she would go to Tatooine and will be there for a while stripping the late Hutt from everything he ever owned so that he knew where to start if he chose to search for her. She didn’t know of course when Vader will die or if that possibility were even possible, but in the remote chance that he did and was wondering where she was, he would know where to begin his search. It could be days, weeks, months, years, or decades, but at least he would know what happened to her.

Aphra raced against time to reach Tatooine. Upon arrival at the palace, she bumped into a very badly bruised and bloodied Boba Fett, who stumbled through the gates and collapsed a few feet away from her. She ordered Triple zero and BT to begin scanning the entire palace for anything of value and hurried to the Bounty hunter’s side. Her medical scanner informed her that his injuries were serious, but not life-threatening, there were mostly deep cuts, bone fractures, and some mild acid burns.

‘Nothing my Bacta tank can’t take care of. But how the Krif was he burned by acid?’, Aphra wondered as she half carried, and half dragged Fett’s large body to her ship that she parked outside the Hutt’s palace since no one was there anymore to forbid her from doing that. She stripped him off his armor and clothes and ordered her med droid to lower him into the tank. She didn’t help but admire Fett’s form, he was a very handsome man, with black hair, tanned skin, and toned body. She considered herself lucky to be one of the few people to see Boba Fett without his armor, he never removed it in public to maintain his notoriety. The bounty hunter’s eyes snapped open and black met with brown. His eyes widened in surprise upon seeing her, she was the last person he expected to save his life but placed his right hand over his heart and bowed his head in gratitude. Aphra presses the communication button and made her intentions clear.

“I know that you are still hunting me on Vader’s orders, Fett. But I am more curious as to what happened here right now, that I’m willing to take the chance and spare your life. But be warned, this ship is full of nasty surprises should you find your way out of the tank and if you miraculously survive my lovely little nasty deaths, my droids and I will tear you into pieces if you attack me. So just be a good little Bounty hunter and let the bacta heal you, then we can have a nice little chat under my droids vigilant chaperoning. After that, you will be on your merry way. Do we have an accord?”, she raised her eyebrow. Boba Fett nodded as a small smile formed around his breathing apparatus and typed a quick message on the keyboard inside the tank, used for communication between the patient and the healers.

“There’s no bounty anymore, Doc. Vader lifted it a week ago, I just thought that you were back into his good graces. Don’t worry, I’ll stay put and wait until you loot that disgusting giant worm’s palace. Just leave some for a poor, unemployed Bounty hunter.”, he winked at her. Aphra smiled and nodded and run back to the palace.

‘I’m back in his good graces alright. He did fuck me three ways from Tuesday, after all. Seems that he appreciated that a lot. He probably not had much of that since his horrible accident. Well, lucky me!’, A huge smile graced her face as she run through the labyrinth of corridors searching for her droids with her tracker. 

Upon arriving at their location, they informed her that there were tons of treasures they could loot and no one around to claim them. It would take them weeks before they were done. 

“Let’s get started then”, she grinned and followed her droids. It was late in the evening when she decided to call it a night and return to the ship with her droids. She took a quick shower and dressed in her nightclothes, cream-colored shorts, and a tank top, and then remembered that Boba Fett was still in her Bacta tank.

“KRIF!!!”, she screamed and run to the med bay. Fett was floating in the tank fast asleep. With a sigh of relief, she pressed the release button and his eyes snapped open as mechanical arms lifted him off the tank. Aphra handed him a towel and looked away, providing him some semblance of privacy. Boba smirked at that.

“Never pegged you for the shy type, Doc. As a matter of fact, I remember you pole dancing in the Mos Eisley cantina three years ago, drunk as a skunk, stripping, and throwing your clothes at Han Solo. Unlucky for him, he was busy killing poor Greedo in cold blood, and lucky for you, I knocked out the three very nasty, smelly, ugly lowlifes who would have beaten and raped you to death if they got their hands on you. You passed out in my arms as I helped you down and had to carry you to your ship and tuck you in. You woke up and said “. Hey. Fett! What are you hiding underneath all that armor? Can a girl have a peak?”, as you traced my armor with your big toe. I would have loved to show you, but I prefer sober and consenting sexual partners. Besides, looking away right now is pointless since you had an ample view of my endowment while you stripped me naked and as I was floating in that tank. And as you have seen for yourself, I have nothing to be ashamed of.”, he winked as he wrapped the towel around his hips.

“Modest, much?”, she raised her eyebrow.

“Comes with the trade. Do you have anything to eat? I tell you all about Jabba’s “tragic” and “untimely” death over dinner. I reckon that my clothes and armor should be ready by then?.”

“Sure, follow me.”, she led him to the tiny kitchen area and heated up two portions of premade bantha casserole. She placed it on the small table and sat on the opposite side of him as she opened two cans of “Coruscant” special brew.

“So, I had just returned from another successful bounty and waited patiently for my reward when another Bounty hunter walked in with a chained-up Chewbacca. It turned out that the Bounty Hunter was none other than Princess Leia Organa herself in a pathetic attempt to free her beloved Solo. She was of course captured when she released him from the carbonite. Solo was thrown into a dungeon along with the Wookie by me, while she was dressed into a very skimpy and enticing outfit and forced to serve as a sex slave.”

“Wow! That must have thrown her off her high horse.”, Aphra interrupted.

“Let me finish. Jabba of course being a Hutt and therefore a hermaphrodite is unable to copulate with other species. He always offers the girls and boys to others. Luckily for the princess, she was offered to me, and she spent two nights in my quarters. I didn’t touch her, I swear, as I said before, I prefer a free and willing sexual partner.”.

“That was very decent of you, Fett.”, Aphra smiled appreciatively. As much as she resented Leia for punching her, she didn’t wish rape upon anyone. Besides, she knew that the Princess had suffered a lot during the past three years, being tortured by Vader with a mind probe being quite high on the list. And Aphra did high kick and knocked her out as she escaped the rebels, two and a half years ago.

“As I was saying, a day after she was captured, Luke Skywalker arrived pretending to be a Jedi, as if he understands what that is, and tried to mind-trick Jabba into releasing the prisoners. It was quite funny to watch. The boy knows nothing about the Jedi. Jabba of course didn’t fall for that and threw him into the Rancor’s pit. The kid somehow killed it and was sentenced to death for that. Him, Solo, and the Wookie were to be thrown into the Sarlacc’s pit the next day, while the Hutt’s entire court, including the mercenaries, Bounty hunters, servants, and slaves watched. I suppose it was a way to put the rest of us in line, to fear him enough, so we would never dare cross him. We boarded his transports and we all flew there to watch the show. It was a blood bath, Calrissian had infiltrated Jabba’s guard, Skywalker got his lightsaber back from his astromech droid and killed everyone who crossed his path. The Princess chocked the Hutt to death with her own chains and I fell in the pit as I was fighting them all. Turns out all the transports ended up in there too, I escaped it twice, and everyone died, save for the servants and slaves who escaped. I suppose the servants deactivated the slaves’ escape-prevention mechanism since I didn’t stumble across any corpses with their heads blown off on my way here. I reckon that the word is out of Jabba’s demise since you are here. However, no one has dared to come and loot, probably afraid that a Jedi is still lurking around this area.”, he shrugged as he finished off his ale.

“Wow, who would have thought that that particular band of misfits would cause so much devastation to a Hutt of Jabba’s caliber. Well, lucky for me, I’m afraid of no Jedi, after spending so much time around a Sith Lord, and I will strip that palace bare!”, Aphra grinned and finished her ale too.

“I wouldn’t mind if you stripped bare for me, Doc. You look quite ravaging in those tiny little nothings you’re wearing.”, Boba gestured at her, paying particular attention to her barely concealed cleavage.

‘Why the krif not, it’s not like I’m in an all-inclusive relationship with Vader, who knows if I’m ever going to see him again.’, she gave a suggestive smile at Fett, who pounced on her, pinning her on the wall. His lips met hers, giving her a searing kiss as he lifted her up and wrapped her legs around his waist. His hands traveled up her thighs to the hem of her shirt and he pulled it off her. His lips left hers and slowly traveled down her neck and captured a nipple.

Aphra enjoyed tracing her hands across his back and traveling up to his head, grabbing his unruly black hair. She didn’t dare do that with Vader, lest she wished to be Force-choked by him. She only managed to feel the rippling muscles of his arms and torso over his thick leather suit and she was incredibly grateful for that.

She stopped thinking of Vader as soon as Fett laid her on the table after throwing everything on the floor with one hand and using his other one to travel down her navel and into her shorts. His fingers traced her folds and found her entrance, quickly inserting his middle one inside her. She moaned asking for more, and he was quick to comply. He removed her shorts and entered her to the hilt. She looked up at him, as he began moving inside her, he looked very fierce, his already black eyes turning onyx black as he increased his pace. He gave her a feral grin and she smiled back as she traced his perfect muscles. He leaned down and kissed her before pinning her on the wall again and increasing his pace. She lost track of time, his onslaught was relentless, she finally felt him convulse as he moaned “OH, DOC!!!” before she screamed her own ecstasy and the wrong name…"VADER!!!"

Boba Fett laughed as he collapsed on the floor, she didn’t expect that, she thought that he would be offended. ‘But then again, why should he? It’s not that he’s in love with me or anything’.

“Vader? Really, Doc? You have a thing for him? Wow! Who would have thought! Wait, did he lift the bounty, because you two?”, the look on her face said it all.

“Oh krif, he fucked you! Darth Vader fucked Dr. Aphra! I didn’t think that he was capable of that anymore, isn’t he more machine than man? Does he even have a cock?”, he raised his eyebrow at her. Boba Fett found this entire revelation very amusing, he loved teasing her, but the look of distraught in Aphra’s face sobered him up.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart, I did not mean to make you feel uncomfortable. It just came to me as a surprise, that’s all. You are free to fuck and love whoever you want, no one has a right to judge you. You can’t choose the one you love. Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me. I too have loved someone for years but lost her because of my own stupidity and I know the pain. At least he doesn’t hate you as she loathes me. You still have hope to get together with him again. Just try to stay on his good side this time, that is if Vader even has a good side. I’m not mad that you screamed his name instead of mine, I would have screamed my ex-wife’s name if I wasn’t so preoccupied with the joy of doing to you what I dreamed of doing since you came on to me when you were drunk. Come on, let’s get dressed, I need to get off this krifing planet and you need to get some sleep.”, he kissed her and lifted her off him. Aphra smiled in relief and walked Fett to the exit as soon as they got ready.

“See you around the galaxy, Doc”, Fett kissed her for the last time and winked at her as he walked down the ramp.

“Safe journey, Boba. You’ll find some decent loot outside your ship, I’ve been in a very generous mood lately.”, she winked back and watched as Boba Fett, the most notorious Bounty hunter in the galaxy, walked out of her life.

A month passed since that day, and true to her word, Aphra stripped the palace bare and found several buyers who compensated her very handsomely for her troubles. The merchandise was aboard their ships, and millions of credits filled her accounts. She was now a wealthy woman and was contemplating whether she should settle on a nice and safe Outer Rim planet or fund an expedition in the Wild Space area of the galaxy.

Aphra decided to have a filling dinner and a nightcap at the cantina before she left the planet, so she sat at her usual spot, right across the Holonet, always eager and almost desperate to hear about Vader. He was always on the news, doing this, destroying that, portrayed as the lone dark warrior defending the galaxy from evil. It didn’t matter to her that they turned white into black, she was simply happy to see him on the Holonet, giving orders from his bridge aboard the Executor, or leading his troops to battle. She just wished that Ahsoka had shown her the Holo videos she had of Anakin Skywalker teaching combat techniques, but alas, after rummaging her ship, the Togruta realized that she left them at her home at a completely different, undisclosed planet at the other side of the galaxy. She did promise though to bring them to her in six months when she returned to Mandalore for “business” …'yeah like I didn’t realize that you were a rebel. Ha!’ She had just finished her dinner and was sipping her drink when the screen flashed, and melodramatic music filled the cantina.

“THIS IS JUST IN…THE SECOND DEATH STAR WAS DESTROYED TWENTY-FOUR HOURS AGO BY THE REBEL FORCES.” …' well, yay for the Rebels’, Aphra shrugged.

“IT WOULD APPEAR THAT EMPEROR PALPATINE WAS ON BOARD WHEN IT EXPLODED!”, ‘wait what? That old codger finally kicked the bucket? So, Vader is now the new Emperor? The Emperor’s dead long live the new Emperor! Well, that is double yay and I’ll definitely drink to that’, she ordered another drink. 

“MORE INFORMATION REACHES US EVERY MINUTE…FOOTAGE TRANSMITTED FROM THE DEATH STAR TO THE IMPERIAL PALACE OFFICE SHOWS DARTH VADER KILLING THE EMPEROR!”, ‘Woah, that’s big! Yay, Boss’, she sat up eager to watch the footage.

It appeared to be a bridge, the Emperor was standing in the middle with Darth Vader next to him, shooting lightning out of his fingers, and electrocuting a young man who was screaming, wreathing, and convulsing on the floor.

‘How is this even possible? How can he do that? Is that why Vader hadn’t gotten rid of him for all those years? My brief examination of his suit revealed to me that it’s an extremely high conductor for electricity. Is that why the Emperor chose it for him? To keep him in line? Well, that would explain why Vader bent the knee to him for so long, he was biding his time.’ 

Aphra recognized the tortured man to be Luke Skywalker, he was dying and appeared to be pleading at Vader to save him. She watched as Vader looked between Luke and Palpatine a few times before lifting the Emperor over his shoulders and carrying him towards the power shaft. Lightening was still coming out of Palpatine, Vader was being electrocuted while he was carrying him, Aphra could see his skeleton through his armor, an optimum conduit for electricity, courtesy of his “caring” master. ‘Krif, no one can survive this, not even Vader, oh Force, please don’t tell me that he died.’, she gasped as Vader threw Palpatine over the edge and bit down a sob as he collapsed next to the rail, Luke rushing to his side.

“THIS IS JUST IN…WE HAVE CONFIRMATION, DARTH VADER SUCCUMBED TO HIS INJURIES, MERE MINUTES AFTER HE KILLED THE SITH LORD THAT APPARENTLY WAS DISGUISING HIMSELF AS THE BENEVOLENT SENATOR, SUPREME CHANCELLOR AND EMPEROR SHEEV PALPATINE FOR THE PAST FIFTY YEARS.”, Aphra could no longer control her sobs, she paid for her food and drinks and run out of the Cantina like a bat out of hell.

‘He’s dead, I can’t believe it. HE’S DEAD…that’s impossible, it can’t be, we are talking about DARTH KRIFING VADER...he is larger than life, a demigod, NO! HE IS THE GOD OF WAR…. he cannot die, I refuse to believe it… Can he?... I mean, I shouldn’t be this distraught, I created a kriffing safety net should this happen. He has a clone, he will be resurrected, his memories, his essence, his very soul will be transferred to the new body upon death of the old, right?... This is not simple Kamino or Cylo-styled cloning, this is Jedi and Force stuff, it will work, right?... He will live again, right?... But you don’t believe that Chelli, do you now?... You know deep down that he’s dead and not coming back, don’t you?...’, Aphra dropped to her knees and screamed her despair. She didn’t realize that she had run out of town and into the desert. She found herself in a rocky area on a dark moonless night.

“Lost are you, my dear?’, a slimy voice made her jump.

“Don’t worry, gorgeous. We’ll take you back”, another sniggered.

“Yeah, right after you suck our cocks and we fuck the brains out of you.”, another cackled. Three of the ugliest humans she has ever seen in her entire life appeared.

“Stay the Krif away from me, scum, if you know what’s good for you.!, she growled and reached for her weapon as she stood up and took a step back. Alas, all she found behind her was empty space, she would have fallen to her death if she didn’t grab the edge of the precipice at the last minute.

“You are ours now, if you want to live, you will become our sex slave.”, all three cackled.

Just then, the eerie silence of the desert night was interrupted by the unmistakable sound of a Lightsaber igniting and all three men screamed as they were cut in half, their severed pieces blasted off the cliff. As the Tatooine moon rose in the desert sky, a dark hooded figure kneeled at the edge and lowered his hood, revealing the youthful face of a gorgeous blonde with piercing blue eyes. He gave her a lopsided grin and extended his hand towards her. He spoke in a soft, pleasant, and kind voice. 

“Dr. Aphra, I have need of you…”


	3. Boss?

Aphra gasped and grabbed his hand. She was lifted with the same ease Vader lifted her up from a similar situation all those years ago and he held her in his arms to steady her and allow her to recover from her ordeal. She was now staring into his extraordinary blue eyes.

“Boss?”, were the only words she could utter.

“Anakin.”, he whispered and crushed his lips on hers, pulling her closer to him. Just like a month and a half ago, he left her breathless. The kiss lasted much longer than before. ‘because he can breathe on his own, I suppose’. Anakin finally came up for air and smiled down at Aphra.

‘Thank you, Aphra. But why? I don’t deserve any of this! A new body, a new ship, a new life! Why go through all this trouble for me? After everything, I put you through. I Force choked you, I threw you out of an airlock, I placed a bounty on you. I chased you down those dangerous ruins and just recently, I raped you. Force, Doctor, I’m so sorry for everything that I’ve done to you!"

“Woah, Woah, there, Anakin. You didn’t rape me. I wanted to jump your bones ever since you saved me from that sticky situation, all those years ago. And I was your biggest fangirl since I was ten and sported a huge crush ever since. A crush that turned into love after I met you in person, irrational as it may be. What happened aboard the Executor recently, was completely consensual. You didn’t force me to do anything I didn’t want to do, and you definitely didn’t rape me. It was role-playing, and a successful one, I might add, and I enjoyed every single minute of it. You were magnificent, you brought me so much pleasure, you didn’t hurt me, and you didn’t cause me any discomfort. It was by far the best sex I’ve ever had. So please, don’t be sorry about that, there is absolutely no reason. I do however accept your apology for the rest of the stuff, except for the chase, which was extremely thrilling, and I did get a chance to tinker with your armor. Anakin, Darth Vader was the best thing that ever happened to me for all the thrills you gave me, and I wouldn’t trade the time we spent together for the galaxy. But now I am ecstatic that I’ll get to know Anakin Skywalker in person.”, she cupped his face.

Anakin couldn’t help but kiss her again, deeply, longingly, possessively. Aphra kissed back with even greater fervor, she was thrilled that her gambit worked, she got back a better version of Vader, unmaimed, unscarred, untainted, and ready to unleash his full potential to the galaxy. For good this time. With her by his side if he wished it. What more could a girl hope for? When they came back for air Anakin placed his temple on hers. 

“I didn’t remember what happened aboard the Executor at first. Death has a funny way to make some things crystal clear for you while hiding others. Or it could have been the cloning process. I don’t know. I was shocked when I saw you on that message and recalled everything about you and our times together except that night.

I remembered what happened while I slept on the way here, in a dream. I saw you pinned face down on my bed, my hand holding you by the back of your neck while I moved inside you. I awoke fearing the worse. The memories flooded in, I recalled everything, but I wasn’t certain whether you really wanted that to happen, or just played along out of fear that I would kill you if you refused. I’m very relieved that you really wanted that to happen, that come’s without saying.

And I must confess you were in no real danger from me at any moment after I threw out of that airlock. That was an act that I regretted instantly, but I thought that it was too late. You had grown on me, Aphra. The times I spent with you was the only joy I felt in years, you were my balm. I wanted to patch things up with you while you served aboard the Executor, but I didn’t know how. That’s why I came to you those nights at your Science station, I wanted to say more, do more, but my pride never allowed it. You brought Anakin out of me almost as much as my son did.

And I have another confession, that I had a crush on you for years. It started as desire, I wanted you from the first moment I laid eyes on you in person when you stole Triple Zero’s Matrix, but after we had sex I realized my feelings for you were much deeper. I discovered that I was in love with you. But it was too late, you were gone, I had mind tricked you to forget and I was on my way to supervise the completion of the second Death Star. How did you remember what happened? I know that I haven’t mind tricked anyone since I was a Jedi twenty-three years ago, but still, you shouldn’t be able to remember what happened, unless I used the Force to make you remember.”

“Well, you told me to go to the furthest system away from the Executor. I did exactly that and ended up on Mandalore. As I was wondering what the kriff I was doing there, I walked into a bar and sat next to a Togruta. Turns out that she was a Force wielder and a former Jedi Padawan, who informed me that I was mind tricked. And she lifted it off me instantly.”, Aphra explained.

“Ahsoka!”, Anakin smiled.

“Exactly. Nice gal, polite, witty, and immensely helpful. She loves you; you know. As a brother. The stories she told me about you, your adventures, your sorrows, your griefs, your joys. The sorrow she feels for losing you to the Dark Side and her inability to bring you back is heartbreaking. Don’t look sad, Anakin. She will be overjoyed to see you redeemed and restored. We will meet her in five months on Mandalore. She promised to show me Holocrons of you teaching combat techniques. You can reunite with her and her husband there.

“Husband?”, Anakin was surprised.

“A former Clone trooper named Rex.”

“Ahsoka married Rex? That’s wonderful, but how? By all accounts all the Clone troopers hunted down and killed their Jedi Commanding officers when Sidious ordered them to execute “Order 66”, and as far as I know, Rex never had the inhibitor chip removed. How did he resist it?

“Oh, Anakin. I’m afraid that I can’t tell you what happened. Ahsoka became very emotional when she attempted to tell me that story, so I changed the subject. She’ll probably tell you in person when we see her. 

“You’re right, that can wait. We have more pressing matters now. Like me making up to you for everything I did. And making amends with my children.”, Anakin sighed, knowing that it will not be an easy task. At least where Leia was concerned.

“Children? I thought that only Luke was your kid. When did the second one pop up? Looks like you’ve been a busy little Jedi, General Skywalker.”, Anakin chuckled at that.

“Turns out that Luke has a twin sister. Leia! Yes, that Leia. Padme, my wife was expecting twins, though she never told me for some reason. Perhaps she was saving it as a surprise.”

“You were married to Senator Amidala? Ahsoka was convinced that you were in a clandestine relationship with her but never suspected that it was that serious.”

“Oh, it was serious alright. We were married for three years and met up in secret whenever we could. We knew our closest friends suspected us, but they never confronted us. Rex knew. He used to keep watch whenever I spoke with her when we were on a mission and kept Obi-Wan away. Actually, he usually failed to keep Obi-Wan away and my old Master would always tell me that next time I spoke to Padme, I should tell her that he said hi.”, they both laughed.

“Ahsoka did tell me that you both did extremely dangerous things behind Obi-Wan’s back, while Rex covered for you.”, Anakin laughed.

“Oh, the things we did, Aphra. The risks we took to complete our missions. Do you think the Empire was bad? The separatists were just as bad. The atrocities they committed, the innocents they slaughtered! And they didn’t have a Death Star or Grand Moff Tarkin, Admiral Thrawn, and I to enforce the Emperor’s will. Their leaders, all of them and their subjects were corrupted and evil to the bone. They didn’t just want to rule the entire galaxy; they wanted to subjugate it, enslave everyone, and annihilate all who opposed them. Well, Tarkin was like that, I always thought that he belonged more with them than the Empire, but Thrawn wasn’t. Even I opposed the construction of the Death Star and protested that its use would cause more problems and outrage, than good. I insisted that it was an abomination and both Thrawn and I petitioned that we should use all those resources and manpower to create more fleets. Star Destroyers that can be deployed in many locations around the galaxy and not at just one place at a time. But Sidious didn’t listen to us. And millions of people were lost, both on Alderaan and the Death Star when my son destroyed it. Both Death Stars. But I digress. I was going to say that the only thing I don’t regret doing when I turned to the dark side was taking out all the separatist leaders on Mustafar.”

“Looks like you have tons of stories to tell me, Anakin. And I’m very eager to hear them all. So, how about we get off this kriffing planet and you tell me all about it on our way to wherever your children are.”, Aphra kissed Anakin who smiled and nodded.

“You’re right. I found you, I saved you, there’s no reason to stay on this kriffing planet any longer. I hate this place with a passion. But I have other things in store for us. The stories can wait. I want to explore every inch of your gorgeous body and do things with you that my armor wouldn’t let me.”, he kissed her again and led her to a speeder.

“And I need to return this to its owner. I jumped on it and sped here the moment I sensed that you were in mortal danger.”. He climbed aboard the speeder and settled Aphra in front of him, kissing the nape of her neck.

* * *

“Aphra, you managed to find a ship similar to the original Arc Angel. How did you do that? I never got to ask you, when you served aboard the Executor.”, Anakin inquired as he sat at the co-pilot’s seat after he docked his own to the Arc Angel.

“I won it at a Sabbacc game, just like your ship. I’m rather good at that game. It’s a much newer and less battered version of the old one, so it made up for the sentimental value my first ship held for me. So where to, Anakin? Where are your children? Can you sense them?”, Aphra asked as the ship left the planet.

“They’re still on Endor for some reason. I wonder why they haven’t gone to Coruscant yet. There’s a vacuum of power at the moment and the surviving Moffs are probably fighting each other over the Crown. I’ll warn my daughter when I see her, Mon Mothma needs to be on Coruscant yesterday.”, Anakin rubbed his chin, with a concerned look on his face.

“Endor it is then.”, Aphra punched the coordinates and got up from her seat. “So where were we? We’re off the planet, we entered hyperspace and the droids are enjoying their oil bath. I don’t know about you, but I could sure enjoy a bath too, care to join me?”, she winked at Anakin as she offered her hand. He grinned and took it, pulling her closer for a searing kiss.

“Always.”, He threw his cloak away and began stripping from his clothes, catching at the same time Aphra’s clothes with the Force as she threw them at him on their way to the fresher. He caught her as she turned on the faucet and pulled her closer for another kiss, lifting her off the ground and pinning her on the wall of the shower. He wrapped her legs around his waist and traced his hands over her curves as they traveled up her body.

“Now that’s something I could never do with that cursed armor!”, Anakin chuckled.

Aphra could not take her eyes off him, he was gorgeous, his body was perfect, toned muscle and smooth skin everywhere she looked. Her small hands traced his rippling muscles while his lips traveled down to her nipples. ‘oh Force, here we go again, his mouth can perform miracles.’, she moaned as she lathered them both up. ‘Well, we are taking a shower, aren’t we?’

“And what a shower it is!”, Anakin looked up and winked at her. ‘Of course, he can read my mind!’, Aphra's chuckle turned into a moan as soon as he entered her.

“Oh Force, Boss! You’re gonna be the end of me”, she moaned as he increased his pace.

“Likewise, Doctor”, Anakin captured her mouth and continued kissing her until they both collapsed on the floor, completely spent.

“Wow, I love Force wielders, they last much longer than regular guys!”. Aphra grinned as she kissed Anakin’s neck.

“That, we do, sweetheart. Get ready for hours upon hours of X-rated fun. A pity we can’t have a round two right now, we should be arriving at Endor any moment. It would be wise if we were fully clothed when they hail us.”, Anakin kissed her and helped her off his lap. By the time they came out of hyperspace, they were the epitome of propriety.

An X-Wing approached them and hailed them.

“Unidentified vessel, you have entered a restricted area. Please identify yourself.”, Luke Skywalker’s voice filled the cockpit. Anakin’s breath hitched; he wasn’t sure how his son will deal with his resurrection. ‘That’s Luke’, he mouthed at Aphra who nodded.

“This is Dr. Aphra, captain of the Arc Angel requesting permission to enter the system and speak with Commander Skywalker.”, she spoke in her most official voice.

“Dr. Aphra, this is Luke Skywalker. Why do you want to speak with me?”, Luke sounded very suspicious.

“Please come aboard, and I’ll tell you. You’re a Jedi, kid. You know if I’m hiding something.”, Anakin hoped that his son wouldn’t need any more convincing. Luckily, he didn’t, and soon his X-Wing was attached to Anakin’s ship.

“Kriff, I need to open the hatch for him. He’ll be shocked when he sees me.”, Anakin facepalmed.

“Don’t worry, babe. I’ll get him.”, Aphra got up and run to his ship. ‘Babe? I like that.’, Anakin grinned and stood up waiting for his son’s arrival.

“You have to understand, kid. This was all my idea; I saw the opportunity and I took it. I just had to do it, give him a second chance and all.”, Anakin heard Aphra saying to Luke.

“What did you do now, Doctor?”, Luke exhaled.

“Well, this.”, Aphra pointed at Anakin. Luke’s eyes widened and took a step back.

“What is this? Father is that you?”, he whispered.

“Yes, son”, it’s me. Aphra discovered an ancient Jedi facility on Dantoine, that clones and transfers the life essence, consciousness, and soul of a Jedi upon death. I had absolutely no idea about this. She surprised me very pleasantly yesterday when I woke up in a tank alive and well.”, he smiled and hugged his son, who hugged him back sobbing.

“Father, I can’t believe that you’re alive and I will actually be able to spend time with you. You are truly saved, and we can finally be a family. I wish Leia were here too!”, Luke managed to collect himself and smiled up at his father who smiled back as he wiped his own tears of joy.

“I don’t think your sister will accept me that easily, Luke. Remember, I used a mind probe on her and tried to invade her mind. I stood back and did nothing while Tarkin ordered the destruction of her home planet. I tortured her boyfriend. I cut your arm off. She will not forgive me so easily. To her, I will always be the monster who brought only suffering to her and her loved ones.

“I’ll talk to her, Father. I will make her see that Anakin Skywalker is a completely different person than Darth Vader. Yes, you did all that, but things changed after we met at Bespin. Anakin resurfaced.” 

“Actually, he did the moment he discovered your existence, kid.”, Aphra piped in.

“To be more precise, it began the moment I saved your life when we first met, sweetheart. Both of you, my son, and my love pulled me back from the Dark Side. And discovering that Leia is also my child sealed the deal.”, Anakin pulled Aphra in his arms too. “My greatest wish is for the four of us to become a family, but I do realize that we have a difficult road ahead of us.

“We’ll be there all the way, aren’t we kid?”, Aphra asked Luke.

“Of course, we are. However, we need to keep the Darth Vader identity secret. As soon as they discover that you were him, they will arrest you and you will be executed. Nobody knows yet, except for us and Leia. We agreed to tell Han and Chewie when we got to Coruscant.”, Luke said.

“Then we need to talk to Leia as soon as possible. And find a way to explain my disappearance for the past twenty-three years. This will prove difficult, the propaganda mill had Anakin Skywalker dying at the Jedi temple, defending it. The Clone troopers could not kill him, he was decimating them, until Darth Vader arrived and finished him off after he was shot several times by the remaining clones.”, Anakin sighed.

“He was left for dead, until another Jedi, Jocasta Nu, the Librarian, who was hiding deep within the Temple found him and discovered a weak pulse. She dragged him to the medical bay and placed him in a stasis pod. She then took him to an undisclosed planet with most of her archives and programmed the pod to heal him. She had no Med-Droid at her disposal, she had to rely on the pod to slowly heal Skywalker’s extensive injuries. She returned to the Temple to retrieve the Holocron that contained the list of all the Force-sensitive children in the galaxy. She was planning to start a new Jedi academy. However, when she returned to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, Vader discovered her and killed her, leaving Skywalker trapped in that pod, sleeping, unaware of what was happening in the galaxy.

An Earthquake caused a collapse at your shelter and crushed the pod, thus waking you up. You were all healed up, well-rested, and very much surprised that you were asleep for two decades, missing the birth of your children, the death of your wife, and the purging of the Jedi. You read Jocasta’s logs and discovered the state of the galaxy. You used parts from different discarded ships from an abandoned junkyard nearby to build a ship and got out of there. The sensors were crap, so you could not identify the planet or the system you were in, you just punched in the coordinates to Coruscant and took an educated guess, hoping for the best. The hyperdrive malfunctioned halfway to your destination and I answered your distress signal.”, Aphra offered a very valid explanation.

“That’s all brilliant, my love. But how do you know so many details about Jocasta Nu? You described what happened to her to the letter.”, Anakin raised an eyebrow.

“I spent three months as an Intelligence officer aboard your ship. You know that I had a huge crush on you since I was ten, and thus I was very curious about you and your past. So, I hacked the Imperial database and every encrypted and restricted file and read everything about you and your missions.”, Aphra smiled at Anakin.

“You do realize that if you were discovered you would have been tortured to death and I would have been forced to give the order? Kriff, I would have been expected to execute you myself, and I would have done so believing that you had betrayed me again. Aphra how could you be so careless?”, Anakin shook his head.

“It felt like a good idea at the time. And hey, it was. Because now we have a valid excuse about your absence and youthful appearance.”, Aphra cupped Anakin’s face.

“Still, I would have rather remained dead if it meant that you were safe.”, Anakin sighed and kissed her hand.

“Ok, so we have a valid explanation. Now can you satisfy my curiosity and tell me when your love story began? It can’t have started yesterday.”, Luke raised an eyebrow at them.

“You are correct, kid. For me, it started when I was ten and bandits invaded my home. My mother managed to contact the Imperial garrison before we fled the house, but they mortally wounded her before we entered the nearby forest. She died there and I had to fend for myself, crossing the forest and hiding from the bandits that were after me and the wild beasts that were trying to eat me. The Imperial troopers found me on the other side and Vader happened to be there. He completely annihilated the bandits in seconds. He was amazing. A god of war, I might say. He spoke to me, asked my name, patted my head, and said the Empire needed more brave souls like me to bring order to the galaxy, or something like that. Well, that was when I developed a huge crush on him.”, she winked at Anakin who gave her a peck on the lips.

“In all fairness, it was during the early years of the Empire, I was in tremendous pain due to my injuries and I was pumping myself with powerful painkillers. I was high most of the time, so I remember nothing from that time period. I was told that I was inspecting different outposts and I sent a request to the Emperor to adopt that brave little girl who made it out of the woods alive since my wife and child were dead. I never gave him your name or the name planet I found you because I couldn’t remember either. I was that high. Naturally, the Emperor realized that I was hooked on the painkillers and put a stop to that, saying that Sith Lords are not allowed to be nice and raise families, so I never saw you again. Until you told me about our first encounter, and I was shocked to realize that you were that little girl. What are the odds, ha?”. Anakin kissed Aphra.

“Wow, that was so sweet, I knew that you were not that bad, even as a Sith Lord!”, Aphra kissed him back.

“Indeed, Sidious often lamented about that.”, Anakin shrugged.

“So anyway, I became a huge fangirl of your dad and created a fun club. You have no idea how much girls love you, Anakin. Something about tall, dark, and mysterious, gets us all wired up. I even joined the Imperial Academy in the hopes that one day I’d be assigned to the Devastator, but it only lasted a month before I quit. Too many rules, I only got my PhDs because they involved a lot of fieldwork, travel, adventure, and building stuff from scratch. Fast forward a few years and there I was minding my own business and stealing a droid personality matrix. I was caught by the guards and who turned up to make my day? None other than Darth Kriffing Vader who took out everyone and saved me from falling to my death, while trying to get the matrix. Oh, it was epic, I was hanging by one hand, while the other was holding the precious matrix, and lo and behold the Dark Lord of the Sith himself knelt, offered his hand, and said with that hot dark voice of his:

“Doctor Aphra, I have need of you”.

“Well, that did it for me, my schoolgirl crush not only saved my life but actually came there for me, because he needed me, of all people. After that, it was all adventure, flirting and blowing stuff up and I actually fell in love with him and ended up in his bed a month and a half ago.”, Aphra grinned at Anakin who grinned back and winked.

“As I said before, I was impressed by that little girl’s bravery, but could not remember her name or the planet we dropped her off. As the years went by, I came to believe that it was just a drug-induced hallucination. And then, I stumbled across a couple of reactivated droids. I was impressed, had there been more of those during the Clone Wars, we would have lost during the first year. So, I had to find the person who reactivated them, for a personal project that I have delayed for almost two decades. To overthrow Sidious and take his place just like every self-respected Sith aspires to do.

After a lot of searching, I discovered the name: Doctor Chelli Lona Aphra, Archaeologist, Ancient Relic Hunter, Droid, and weapons reactivator, Rogue, Thief, Scoundrel, but an avid supporter of the Empire. The perfect woman! So, I searched her out. And where do I find her? On a restricted planet stealing a droid personality matrix. Even I didn’t have permission to be there, so I was attacked. Naturally, I quickly dispatched the attackers, only to watch Aphra plunge into the abyss after the matrix, headfirst. So, I rescued her.

I was already intrigued by her skills and brilliance, and I knew that she was incredibly beautiful from the holos I had collected during my search. But when I finally met her in person, I became captivated by all those things combined and enhanced by her personality. She instantly became my balm, and the smile on my face whenever I saw or thought about her. She was my comfort and the only person that made me feel human again.

It wasn’t easy for me, I was a Sith Lord, passion was acceptable, but not love. Love leads to the Light Side of the Force. I tried to bury those feelings deep down after I failed to purge them when I threw her out of that airlock, but I failed again. I instantly regretted doing that and I mourned her “loss”.

I was overjoyed and relieved when she resurfaced, and I did try to approach her again when she served aboard the Executor. But I fucked things up even worse. I alternated from being nice and civil to her when we were alone to downright hostile in front of others. I even tortured her father and hurt him very badly. I didn’t blame her when she escaped by humiliating me and saving the Rebel Alliance by betraying the Empire. I absolutely deserved it. Even as Vader, I understood and accepted that.

For two and a half years she was gone. Even Boba Fett couldn’t find her. I wanted her back, not to hurt her, but to keep her close to me at all times. To see her, hear her, and watch her being her usual cheeky self. I was going to reinstate her status as a Science and Intelligence officer and use her to capture you and your friends. I reckon that if she were there at Bespin, none of you would have escaped me. 

I had given up hope that I would ever see her again, I believed that she not only fled Imperial space but also the outer rim worlds and was hiding somewhere in the Wild Space regions. But I didn’t have the time to look for her, since I was busy fighting the Rebels, trying to capture you, and discovering what really happened during your birth. You see, Sidious told me that your mother died before she had you. For nineteen years I believed that you were both dead. But that’s another story, and I prefer to tell it when your sister is here too.

So, a month and a half ago, I had just returned from Mustafar, after my weekly body maintenance. A painful process, medical droids remove my armor and prosthetics and scrub my body clean from all the dead skin and then I spend a day in the bacta tank to recuperated from said ‘treatment”. I landed on the Executor on your mother’s yacht, and I ordered an inspection, just because I felt like it. I walked past a group of lined up officers, and whose all too familiar presence do I sense? Aphra’s. I turn my head and there she was, dressed as an Imperial Ensign, smiling, saluting, and winking at me. The cheek! I swear to you, if I were alone I would have burst out laughing, it was the funniest thing I have ever seen. And the sexiest. She was gorgeous in that uniform. So much so, that I just had to remove it off her, for her own good, of course. I ordered her to follow me in my quarters and I can’t tell you anything more, because you’re my child and I don’t want to scar you for life. Needless to say, I realized that my huge crush had developed into love, but it was too late because I had already mind tricked her and told her to forget about what happened and disappear, and never come near me and Imperial space again.”, Anakin kissed Aphra after finishing her story.

“You should know that you were the only female that I ever wanted to kiss and taste after my accident. I never brought anyone into my hyperbaric chamber, only you.”, he whispered in her ear.

“Wow, this is all incredible, father. Love did bring you back. Between Dr. Aphra, Leia, and I, you didn’t stand a chance.”, Luke grinned at both of them.

“No, son, I didn’t. I have so many stories to tell you and your sister. You’re probably dying to know who your mother was. Do you want me to tell you now, or do you want to wait until we see your sister? Though it may be a disaster.”, Anakin sighed.

“We’ll risk it. She would want to know too. And I’ll be there when you reveal yourself and we will ride the storm together.”, Luke smiled reassuringly to his father.

“So how are we going to meet her?”, Aphra asked.

“I’ll contact her and ask her to fly here in the Millennium Falcon with Han. It’s too risky to meet on Endor.”, Luke tapped the message on his wrist band.


End file.
